Today was Cee’s birthday, and thank you to Marsha for making us honour her today!
Remembering Cee
Birthday
(Wordless) Wednesday
8 years today – my blog – who would have guessed?
Thursday Thoughts – A Double Farewell
These foggy mornings – forebodings of November grey – still have their own beauty.
My father just turned 85, and our daughter flew home for the celebration last weekend – despite having a big exam three days later. Love ♥
Driving her to the airport – she wanted a walk in our forest once more. So brother and sister walked ahead of us, chatting and laughing, but also talking about serious things.
Forests are good listeners. Up north, where she is heading, there are no autumn colours, only firs and pine trees.
So, when she left, this autumn’s last colours were mirrored in the little lake in the early morning light. I hope Emma will picture them in her mind during the long winter darkness in Umeå.
Vadstena – Town and Castle Villa
Vadstena – is named a city despite its only 6000 -7000 inhabitants. This is a very charming place, where the main street still has got all the shops gathered – just as they would have been in the Middle Ages. The buildings in the city center date mainly from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
And – people live in them. It is not a museum, even if you are tempted to think it is.
The old town is well preserved and the streets have not changed much over the centuries. The Town Hall is Sweden’s oldest, dating back to the early 15th century.
A look into our lodging as well – the Castle Villa in charming Jugend style. All in all it was a lovely stay – to celebrate Spring and our son’s birthday.
The Unicorn Stable
Łódź is a tram city since 23 December 1898, and was the first city to have electrified trams in Poland.
In the years 1910-1931 suburban tram lines connected many important places around the city, creating the largest such network in Poland, unchanged until the end of the 1980s. In the first half of the 1990s, some of them were closed down, but Łódź is still the only city in the country to have such a system of commuter trams.
Personally, I love trams – the narrowness, the on-and-off and the streetscape they create. I am glad they kept them – and developed them as well!
According to Wikipedia, the Municipal Communication Company of Łódź (MPK), currently operates 16 urban and 4 regional (or suburban) lines. The longest of these, and in fact the longest of all of Poland, is number 46, which has a length of 38 kilometres.
Trivia: Łódź once boasted a small cemetery where tram drivers were buried. Sadly, nothing remains of this graveyard, which was situated on Lindley Street near the aptly named Tram Street (ul. Tramwajowa).
When looking for more facts about the beautiful rainbow station, I came across this interesting blog by Daniel Wright, a freelance transport writer. And he describes it so well:
The Unicorn Stable (Piotrkowska Centrum tram station, Łódź, Poland)
Designed by Warsaw-based architecture practice Foroom, Piotrkowska Centrum is an unusually dramatic piece of tram architecture. If you like Santiago Calatrava’s work on railway stations, then you’ll like this. It has something of the same adventurous spirit and ostentatious engineering, but scaled down to the dimensions of Łódź’s narrow gauge (1,000mm) trams.
Wright claims the design of the station is drawing on the Art Nouveau details to be found on nearby buildings, but also the fact that it remains a practical piece of transport infrastructure.
The original plan had been to use glass panels in the roof, but instead a translucent plastic fabric, ETFE, was used – the same as in the roof at Southern Cross station in Melbourne. It is very light, but also very strong across a wide range of temperatures, making it ideal for Poland’s harsh winters.
This tram station has its own special beauty and a very suitable nickname: “The Unicorn Stable”. When I was a child, unicorns were all-white. These days, for some reason, most unicorns are represented with rainbow tails, and possibly manes, and some even have wings. So if they ever needed stables, this ethereal white structure with multi-coloured ‘glass’ roof would, I admit, be just the thing. In fact…I think I just caught a glimpse of…
Cheers!
Viveka treated me with a bottle of champagne on my birthday – the last day in Poland. So cheers to Viveka as well, and to the spectacular Light Move Festival!
I will post next week on some of the events – nights and days – in this lovely city of Łódź.
Just prepairing…
Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Candid Shots
Candid shots are always fun – this is one of my daughter from this summer. Not a situation I like…I guess that is why I took the photo…
Thursday Thoughts – In the Hive
My number one goal with the London trip was Kew Gardens. I think the year was 1977 last time, or maybe 1979. As you who read this blog will know, I love gardens and flowers. Maybe especially English gardens, because of their soft and soothing architecture and lines. But this time, I also found the most mindful spot – The Hive.
A well thought through installation, and a high quality space for mindfulness.
The Hive stands 17 metres high, set in a meadow of wild flowers. The installation is connected to a real beehive, from where you, through several canals, are able to follow the sounds and vibrations of the bees.
We all know the importance of bees, and as scientists have proved – without bees we will not survive on this planet.
In this structure, you cannot shut out the light – you cannot stop it from seeping in. Looking straight up from the ground beneath, there are also… feet to be seen…
…and inside the construction, the blue sky is visible from every corner. Slow down and listen to the bees working, humming soothingly. Add some distant music… and this will be your reaction…
Meditative moments…Mindfulness…
The World Illustration Awards 2017
A short visit to London with my whole family – I cannot say how much I appreciated this opportunity! That we all could go, and have some relaxing fun together – almost impossible now as we are all living in different ends of Sweden.
WIA at Somerset House was our first spot of interest. All of us love working with some kind of art – but none of us do it professionaly. So.. who does not want to get inspired?
The view from Waterloo Bridge – I don’t think I have seen it since the Shard was built. You can see it between the two high constructions on the right side of the Thames.
Walking to the entrance of Somerset House, I caught a glimpse of ”The Lion King”. I remember it being very well staged and performed when we visited with our children a long time ago. Sweet memories.
All excited of course – but as I am not allowed to show the photos officially, Here is a link instead.
My son and daughter photographing away…at the entrance. There were, among others, a great many interesting takes on the US president and environmental issues.
At exhibitions, leaving a comment is never optional…always give feedback! So much talent and fantasy, brainwork and time gone in to these artworks. Brilliant!
Walking back – enjoying the other side of Waterloo Bridge. Always impressive…
Good Old London.
Happy Anniversary to Lagottocattleya – Leya!
So, I have an Anniversary to celebrate! I started this blog 6 years ago today. All in Swedish from the beginning. Thank you all in the blogging community who decided to tag along…and many of you are still there! I am very, very grateful to have ”met” you, and this summer I will have the opportunity to meet another English lady – in the real world – so looking forward to seeing you, Sue!
In my first post, the photo is from Norway, and the text says that a new planet had been found, ”Very important”, the scientists said… But what then…? Then… we would have a new planet to destroy, new life to kill…Again. Nothing in the history of mankind can convince me that we really have learned from previous mistakes. Nothing would make me happier than if someone could convince me that we have…learned…and will not repeat the same story.
Bilradion släpper ut ljudkombinationer som tränger in i mitt påväghemkörningsmedvetande. En ny planet är funnen. Igen. Den här gången är den i storlek med Vår Jord. ”Betydelsefullt”. ”Viktigt”. Säger man där borta i USA. Men den är för nära sin stjärna, den nya planeten – och således alldeles för het. Ytterst vill man finna liv – naturligtvis. Och sen? Om vi finner liv? Vi har en ny värld att förstöra, nytt liv att döda, nytt. Om igen. Ingenting hos mänskligheten i mänsklighetens historia kan övertyga mig om att vi skulle ha lärt oss av gamla misstag. Lycklig skulle jag bli – om Du kunde övertyga mig om motsatsen.
Leya 
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